venezuela is a country of 29 million people, an oil exporter subsidizing energy-hungry poor countries, like cuba and haiti. and it sends 800,000 barrels of oil a day to the u.s.-- its number one customer. president hugo chavez has led the nation for 14 years. his third term expires today. he won re-election in october and was supposed to be sworn in again today for another six years, as the constitution requires. but chavez suffers from aggressive, reoccurring cancer, hasn't been seen in public in a month and was too sick to return to venezuela from medical treatment in cuba. >> the illness of the president has been treated like a state secret from the beginning. he has been treated in cuba under a veil of secrecy. >> reporter: moises naim is a former venezuelan cabinet minister, now a columnist and a visiting scholar at the carnegie endowment for international peace in washington. he says keeping chavez alive in havana strengthens the president's number two, nicolas maduro. >> and this is essentially a power play. behind that secrecy there is nothing but an attempt to ensure the cont